Fernández insisted that he hadn't known they'd planned to take a photograph, much less distribute it.

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"It was something instantaneous. I'd just raised my head and my son did it like any kid of 18," he told the radio station.

He said he had been receiving threats from others living in the El Paternal neighbourhood where Maradona debuted as a professional in 1976 with the Argentinos Juniors team.

"They know me. I'm from the neighbourhood," Fernández said. "They say they are going to kill us, break our heads."